Greetings around the

world
Introduction:
If right now, I asked you to greet the person you have next to you, what would you do?

See, greetings are always present in our daily life. The first thing we do when we see someone, is to
kiss their cheeks, to shake hands or to even give them a hug. But of course, greetings are an action
linked to culture, so different parts of the world, have different traditions when it comes to greetings.

Maori Culture
If we take a look at the Maori Culture, for example, we can see how different their greeting tradition is,
in comparison to what we are used to. The Māori people are the indigenous people of Aotearoa (New
Zealand) and first arrived there in waka hourua (canoes) from their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki over
1000 years ago. Today, Māori makes up over 14 percent of the population of this country, and their
history, language and culture are central to New Zealand’s identity.
Nowadays Māori people live throughout New Zealand, and many are actively involved with keeping
their culture and language alive. One of the many traditions that they have ketp alive to this day, is
greeting each other by pressing their noses and foreheads together. This traditional greeting is known as
the Hongi. During the Hongi, the ha – or breath of life – is exchanged between the two people. The
sharing of the breath of life can be compared to both parties’ souls intermingling together.

Tibetans
But as sweet as that can sound, or not, some other forms of greetings. when taken out of the culture in
which they are used, could be understood as a rude gesture. That's the case for Tibetans, who briefly
stick their tongues out as a greeting. And this custom, has a very interesting story. In the 9th century,
there was a Tibetan king, named Lang Darma, known for his cruelty, who had a black tongue. As
Buddhists, Tibetans believe in reincarnation, so they feared that this mean king would be reincarnated.
That was what originated the greeting, for centuries Tibetans have greeted one another by sticking out
their tongues, to demonstrate that they don't have black tongues, so that they aren't related to this king.
In addition to being a greeting, sticking out one’s tongue is used to show agreement, and over the past
few years this gesture has evolved into a sign of respect. This greeting, was also popularized around the
globe by the movie, “Seven Years in Tibet,” when the Brad Pitt character encounters a group of
Tibetans, and they all at once stick out their tongues at him, which will never occur in real life, since
this action is very brief and never done by groups.

Eskimo kiss?
But this wasn't the first time that the film industry depicted a culture in a non-authentic way.
In 1922, Robert J. Flaherty, spent a year living among the Inuits of the Arctic Circle due to his film,
North Nanook, living and documenting a civilization that had not yet been hit by modernization.
One day, while strolling with an Inuit family, Flaherty witnessed a mother stroking her baby in a
strange but sweet way, so he decided to document the moment and include it in his film.
It was then that he had to describe this gesture of affection to his audience that he realized he didn't
know how to call it. Unable to find words for this action, he coined the term"Eskimo Kiss."
After his film was released, the term of the Eskimo Kiss spread through the West, due to Hollywood
cinema, joining a long list of misconceptions about this people.
In Inuit culture, this greeting is actually called "kuniks"(rubbing noses), and is used as an expression of
affection for others (in a non-romantic way), where you smell other's faces. Kuniks are an expression
used more in babies than in adults, and, contrary to the misconceptions that are surrounding this
culture, kunik does not replaces kissing on the lips.The cheek is also the most common destination for
kuniks, because it contains scent glands. In Greenland, this tradition of placing your nose against
someone’s cheek or forehead and sniffing, is limited to very close relationships. But on the island of
Tuvalu, pressing cheeks together and taking a deep breath is still part of a traditional Polynesian
welcome for visitors.

Conclusion
So, after taking a look upon different cultures and the ways in which they greet each other, we can see
how something that is aparently so insignificant for us in our day to day life, could differ inmensely
from someone living on a different country. When approaching other cultures, and even more, when we
area traveling to a different place, we should be well informed about their traditions and custums, and
most importantly, the ways in which they greet each other, since that is always the first thing that we do
when we are in contact with other people, is the perfect first step to making a meaningful connection
with locals.